


the art of subtlety

by sunfull



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-22 19:23:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16604033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunfull/pseuds/sunfull
Summary: Mark's kind of possessive and Donghyuck sort of likes it.





	the art of subtlety

**Author's Note:**

> prompt form: https://markhyuckaus.tumblr.com/post/180041490545/mmm-can-u-write-a-possessivemark-au-pls-pls-oh
> 
> disclaimer:
> 
> i think being possessive could easily turn toxic, so i really tried not to cross that line in this fic but if i did please let me know! if i need to tag anything, please let me know! not beta-ed because i don't know where to find one hahaha

Mark thinks he’s being subtle but he’s really not.

To others, at times their relationship might seem heavily one-sided on Donghyuck’s part. Their contrasting personalities making it even more apparent.

Donghyuck is affectionate to the point where it may be overwhelming and it is, at times. Donghyuck knows that, but he also knows Mark is a fan of it.

Just not in public.

Point is, on the surface Mark appears very distant and sometimes even harsh in his constant rejection of Donghyuck’s affections but Donghyuck knows that it’s because he doesn’t feel comfortable with public displays of it.

In private, Mark’s particularly fond of cuddling or just being near Donghyuck in general.

Besides, even if Mark wasn’t openly affectionate, he’s always been slightly possessive.

If push comes to shove, if Donghyuck asked Mark about it, he’d probably vehemently deny it. Donghyuck knows that it’s a part of Mark that he doesn’t feel particularly proud of, thinks of it as negative thing, going out of his way to make sure he tamps it down.

Not that Donghyuck minds it very much, on the contrary, he very much appreciates it.

He knows that if Mark’s possessiveness reached unhealthy levels, he wouldn’t feel that way but it hasn’t and he knows that it won’t.

Donghyuck talked to Mark about it once and Mark had flushed, described it along the terms of, “I just, I’m really happy that I get to be with you like this and sometimes I get the irrational urge… to just show it off which is weird, I know. I’m sorry.”

Donghyuck had snorted and merely replied with a lame joke, but his blushing cheeks betrayed his real thoughts. There’s something weirdly reassuring at the thought of Mark being possessive about him but that’s something to bring up for another time.

In their conversation, Mark had been worried, thinking that he really had to tone it down because in his opinion it was ‘glaringly’ obvious but on the contrary, Mark was rather inconspicuous about it.

It took a long time for Donghyuck to recognize the signs, actually.

At the very least, Mark would make sure their sides are pressed together and direct an insistent stare that could easily be construed as a glare to whoever he feels threatened by.

And at the very most, his hand curls around Donghyuck’s thigh while he leans in to whisper something unnecessary. His breath ticking Donghyuck’s ear as he lightly strokes his knee.

Donghyuck’s cheeks flush just thinking about it.

Sometimes Donghyuck feels petty enough to try and make Mark jealous on purpose because he does feel starved for attention but it never works.

Mark always sees right through it, merely raising an eyebrow at him before shooting him a small smile and shaking his head minutely.

It’s embarrassing for Donghyuck to be caught doing it and it always has him feeling a bit cheated. But at the same time, it conflicts with the warm feeling he gets with the implication that Mark knows him that well.

After all, even if his attempts fail - at least Mark is aware and that makes him more affectionate with Donghyuck the moment they step into the dorm, so it’s always a win-win situation.

But Donghyuck can never expect when Mark feels particularly possessive so it always catches him off-guard. Especially, during the time that Donghyuck wasn’t aware that Mark had a tendency to feel like that.

 

///

 

Once they went out to a café, just the two of them late into the night. It had been in-between their practices for both 127 and Dream schedules. The streets were bare and they were the lone customers in the store.

The managers had been lenient on them, let them have a two-hour break instead of the usual 30 minutes, and they took the opportunity to walk to a nearby café that opened late into the night.

They shared a cramped booth, the subtle jazz music playing in the background as they talked about everything and nothing all at once. If Donghyuck closed his eyes, he could even imagine it as one of their dates had they been a normal couple.

It didn’t matter that their hair was matted with sweat or that their clothes were inappropriate for anything remotely related to romance.

At the time and at that place, with Mark’s foot lazily tapping against Donghyuck’s under the table every so often, it was just like any other date.

He was tempted to reach across the table and nudge their hands together into a subtle gesture of affection but even Donghyuck knew that that was pushing it.

Mark's either psychic or just plain observant because not even five seconds later he reaches across, pretends to offer a sip of his drink and lets his hand settle right next to Donghyuck’s.

Donghyuck is grateful and he tries but fails to tamp down a smile, choosing to look down at the table instead, bumping their feet against each other’s yet again.

Mark shoots him a subtle wink, before resuming their conversation yet again.

Donghyuck was in the middle of talking about Chenle’s progress with his teddy bear when Mark’s expression changes.

It was almost unnoticeable really.

His lips tightened into a thin line and his fingers started tapping on the table like he ached to fiddle with something.

Donghyuck shot him a look and Mark merely shakes his head, before tilting it in the direction of the counter. He shifts his hand until the very tips of his fingers graze over Donghyuck’s.

Donghyuck still remembers the cold chill that shot down his spine when he feared for the worse. How he waited a bit just to be safe, before he turned to see a male cashier’s appreciative gaze.

He remembered the embarrassed flush that took over his face. The sudden feeling of being bare in his oversized shirt and joggers.

Donghyuck had forgotten to grab his cardigan on the way out and the slightly stretched collar of his shirt exposed enough of his collarbones for him to know that, that’s where the the cashier’s gaze seemed to land.

Feeling uncomfortable, Donghyuck touches Mark’s fingers again and it doesn’t take much more than that before Mark loosely grabs onto Donghyuck’s wrist, quickly looking around just in case they forget anything and quickly heads toward the exit.

Mark made sure to walk close enough for their hands to repeatedly bump against each other on their way back. Donghyuck’s heart beating double-time until they reached their practice room.

It had been the first time that Donghyuck had an inkling of how Mark might’ve been feeling, but he’d merely pushed it back, deeming it a result of Mark being protective rather than feeling particularly possessive.

 

///

 

Mark is very subtle after all.

Well he is, mostly.

The one time he strayed far away from that was a pretty uneventful day.

They had no schedules so Donghyuck was just lazing around in the dorm, going from member to member hoping to find some source of entertainment before he finally decides to bother the Dream members.

He grabbed the first shirt he saw from his dresser, a present that he got from Jaemin, switched into a cleaner pair of shorts before making his way to their dorm downstairs.

Luckily, all the members were there and Donghyuck had managed to rile them up enough to start an impromptu video gaming session which lasted up until Donghyuck lost for the tenth time.

Donghyuck wasn’t particularly good at playing games and he knew that, but even he would get tired of losing repeatedly so he’d taken a break to help Jaemin, who’d moved to the kitchen to start preparing some snacks.

He was in the middle of setting up the dining table when the door opens and Mark comes through.

“Hey guys, Johnny told me Donghyuck was here?”

Jeno snorts, “You guys already spend so much time together and you still want to spend what little time off you have with him? Donghyuck isn’t that great, bro.”

Donghyuck’s just about to say a cutting remark, before Mark replies. “Just spending ten minutes without him is already pretty boring, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Donghyuck smiles, feeling vindicated before he calls out. “I’m by the kitchen Mark, walk around!”

There’s the quick shuffle of Mark taking his shoes off at the entryway before he’s rounding the corner to meet Donghyuck in a hug. “Hey you, how was your day?”

Donghyuck places a quick kiss on his cheek, “It was okay, I kept losing again though-”

“Can you guys be domestic somewhere else, I actually have to serve these y’know?” Jaemin cuts in, steps out with two platefuls of fried rice and setting them on the table.

Donghyuck snorts, “These are supposed to be snacks?”

Jaemin smiles, waves an arm out to present his work. “For seven people? Yeah.”

Donghyuck waves him off, turning his attention back to Mark who’s moved closer to wrap an arm around his shoulders. He raises an eyebrow, only to be met with a shrug in return.

“Tell me about your day in the studio, Mark.”

Mark says something about it being unproductive, before he quickly trails off, looking back and forth between Donghyuck and Jaemin. “Have you and Jaemin always had matching house shirts?”

Donghyuck looks down at his shirt, then at Jaemin’s and laughs. “Huh? Oh, I didn’t even notice! He actually gave me this shirt for a birthday, so he probably meant for this to happen eventually. I just wasn’t aware he had a matching one-”

Jaemin rolls his eyes, “It’s a sign of friendship Hyuck. I’m your friend and you’re mine. It’s like those ‘I’m with stupid’ shirts you’d get at a joke shop.”

Donghyuck shoves him slightly, “I would’ve preferred the ‘I’m with stupid’ shirts, as opposed to this? Hearts, really Jaemin?”

Jaemin merely blows him a kiss before calling the others over for the meal. A loud thump comes from Jisung pushing Renjun aside to get to the table first before they’re all rushing into their seats around the table.

It turns out that Jaemin was right. The meals end up being barely enough for the seven of them altogether and even after most of them, with the exception of Donghyuck and Mark, head back into the living room to start playing yet again, Donghyuck still feels the urge to have a snack, so he gets up to rifle through the fridge.

“Want anything? They have some chips and some leftover cake from the last time they had a part-”

“Hey, should we get matching stuff too?” Mark interjects.

Donghyuck straightens up abruptly, his head barely missing the handle of the freezer. “Uh sure? What brought this up?”

Mark hums, “Nothing much, whatever Jaemin said is just stuck in my head. Isn’t matching stuff something couples do? Do you want to do that?”

Donghyuck snorts, “Ignore Jaemin, he’s weird. You don’t need to feel obligated to do it-”

Mark stands up from his seat, walks over until he’s right behind Donghyuck. He leans over to perch his chin on Donghyuck’s shoulder, arms snaking around to hug his waist. “I want to though,”

Mark made sure to press his chest right up against Donghyuck’s back and Donghyuck coughs, wishing the cold chill coming from the still open fridge would drift up to cool his heated cheeks. “If you want to, then I guess we can.” he mutters.

Mark’s hug tightens briefly before he pulls back with a smug grin, “Awesome.”

 

///

  

At that point Donghyuck had a vague idea that Mark might be slightly possessive but what seals the deal is the small conversation they have amidst a recording.

When Donghyuck feels Mark’s slight hold on the back of his neck, his first instinct is to dismiss it. Mark does that sometimes, has a habit of just lightly grabbing the person next to him out of affection.

The hosts of the variety show that they’re shooting for asked him to dance along to different bands yet again and this time he came prepared. Even when Donghyuck was caught off-guard with a freestyle song, he managed to pick up the beat quickly and danced well enough for the abrupt transition in different genres of music to seem almost natural. He knew that this time, he'd done well.

And if he hadn’t, the endless praises coming from his fellow members as well as the MC’s of the show would’ve clued him in. He basked in it for a moment, faking a dramatic acceptance speech for the 'Best Dancer' award in the show, before he settles back in his seat.

He turned to Mark beside him, waiting for him to react like he usually did, satisfied when Mark turned to him with a wide grin, hand reaching up to lightly hold the nape of his neck.

Mark turned to Winwin who sat beside them, “Donghyuck was amazing, wasn’t he?”

His tone implied that he wasn't really looking for an answer just someone to agree with him so Winwin merely laughed, nods along to appease Mark, furthering Donghyuck’s embarrassment.

Mark’s grip lingered on his neck until Donghyuck gently nudged him aside, “I’m right here, you know?”

Mark nods, pulling his hand back sheepishly. “Sorry, I’m just proud of you, you know?”

Donghyuck smiles, twists slightly in his seat to let their knees knock against each other. He knows it probably takes a lot out of Mark to act as openly affectionate as that, so he makes sure to meet his gaze when he replies. “I know, I don’t mind. Just wanted to tease you a bit, you can keep doing that.”

Mark shakes his head, “It’s okay, it’s probably weird-”

Donghyuck rolls his eyes, before he physically moves Mark’s hand to rest on his thigh, whispering. “Let me rephrase it, I _like_ it. it makes me feel like-”

‘I’m yours’, he doesn’t say but it’s implied and Mark clearly understands if the way his mouth parts slightly mean anything.

All of a sudden the simple gesture feels a lot heavier and Donghyuck resists the urge to fidget in his seat, shifting his focus to the hosts describing yet another game instead. He can feel his ears turning red at Mark’s pointed stare but he refuses to look back.

The conversation ends there but Mark’s hand stays on his thigh the whole segment.

 

///

 

After that, they had their conversation and Mark had confessed that they were all times he’d been feeling possessive. He’d apologized several times until Donghyuck finally stopped him by pointedly intertwining their fingers together.

“I don’t mind that you’re,” Donghyuck starts, “Possessive.”

Mark groans, leaning his head against Donghyuck’s shoulder, hiding his face. “Stop. I’ll stop, I promise. Just let this embarrassing conversation end.”

Donghyuck smiles, leaning his head right on top of Mark’s. “Listen, I really don’t.”

With his fingers curling up and digging into Mark’s slightly, Donghyuck whispers. “I actually really like it, okay?”

Mark stiffens, his grip around Donghyuck’s hand tightening. “You do?”

Donghyuck nods, turning his head slightly to press a kiss on Mark’s head. “Yes. In healthy doses, of course.”

**Author's Note:**

> hope you like this! thank you for reading!
> 
> tumblr: https://markhyuckaus.tumblr.com


End file.
